Sumiko F4 with 103R sounds flat???

I used a 103R on an FT3 for a few years and it worked well. The Denon benefits from a body change (to wood) and a higher mass arm than your FT4 but if it's sounding crappy compared to your CD player, there is something definitely wrong.

Could be improper setup on the cartridge. The remark about tracking the Denon at 2 grams above is totally off base; tracking range given by Denon is 2.2 to 2.8 and I wouldn't consider tracking a stock 103R below 2.5 and think that 2.6 is definitely THE tracking force for the cartridge.

You need very close to 60 db of gain in your phono stage with a load preferably in the 40 ohm to 100 ohm range. It's quite possible, as another poster above mentioned, that you do not have an appropriate phono stage for the cartridge.

In any event, something is wrong and it's not likely to be the Denon or your FT4.

At this point, it sounds like you want to keep it simple -- yet you have a rather tweaky analog front end with step-ups, a low-output MC cartridge, etc.

You also said the sound from your analog rig is not even close to the sound of CD. Perhaps you just like the sound of digital better, and no turntable will ever satisfy you, at least nothing that costs a reasonable amount and does not require more tweaking than rebuilding one of your Porsche's flax sixes. S

I think you have two options here:

(1) As others have said, find a local analog expert and pay him to come to your home do a professional setup and/or offer some advice. This could be expensive, and it could lead to additional expense. It may or may not be worth it. There's no way to tell until it's done.

Or...

(2) Get rid of the Sota, Sumiko, Denon and Cinemag. Get a simple analog package (with MM or high output MC cartridge) instead for occasional enjoyment of stuff you can't find on CD. My top recommendations are the Rega P3 and Technics SL-1200Mk2. Get it professionally setup by the dealer and buy a record cleaning machine.

If the sound is REALLY bad, cartridge break in, VTA adjustment, etc will have little effect.

But before you do any of that, tell us about the rest of your system. What are you running the Cinemag into? Speakers?

I think its my phono stage. Going to try another next week.
Using a McIntosh MA6500, Meridian 608.24 CD, Infinity RS II.
Its got to be the transformer, I hope. I will report back when I try another unit. Thanks for the input.

I had a technician that previously owned my turntable set it up. Tracking 2.5r

I just bought a Bobs Device Cinemag SUT on E Bay. it has great feedback, with 103R. Over all a huge improvement from where I was, but the CD still has brighter, crisper top end. Going from one to the other leaves the TT sounding a bit dull compared to the CD. Still lost, and getting tired of throwing money at this thing. I have 10 - 15 hours on the 103R. Looking for experience to give some "sound" advise.